When Lego Group announced last year it intended to build a $1 billion high-tech manufacturing facility in Chesterfield County, economic development officials in the commonwealth promised to make a trained workforce available when the plant opens in 2025. In recent months, Lego and state officials have been developing programs to recruit and train workers.
The toymaker is currently recruiting for 500 positions at a temporary packing facility set to open next year, but will need automation technicians, engineers, information technology professionals and quality control personnel when the plant opens. The Denmark company already operates sixth factories around the world. The new facility will be its only one in the United States, where Lego bricks have been sold since the 1960s. Currently, Lego products marketed in the U.S. are primarily made at a company factory in Monterrey, Mexico.
The Chesterfield facility will run on advanced manufacturing technology. Much of the work is automated and workers must have the skills necessary to maintain and operate machines.
“A facility like this requires highly skilled employees who can operate sophisticated machinery and technology and make products the super high standard of Lego bricks,” a spokesperson for the Lego Group said in an email.
To help in that process, Lego is working with the Virginia Talent Accelerator, a program run through the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, in conjunction with the Virginia Community College System. Created in 2019, the program recruits and trains a specialized workforce. The program is customized to the company’s needs and provided at no cost to qualified companies. The work often includes the creation of a customized recruitment website, recruitment ad placement and preemployment training.
The program has been utilized by other companies that have built presences in the state, including British pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline and Korea boiler manufacturer KD Navien.
Lego and the Virginia Talent Accelerator are working together and developing a training program for the high-tech facility.
“The talent accelerator team has already produced an array of videos and is leveraging innovative technologies like 3D animation to enable trainees to readily visualize the Lego Group’s unique processes and procedures,” VEDP President and CEO Jason El Koubi said. “This will enable new hires to learn their jobs quickly and set them up to grow as the company’s Virginia operations grow.”
Lego is also working with the state’s community college system to offer certification programs for certain kinds of equipment. Tuition assistance is available.
“Those include the roles related to mechatronics and industrial maintenance technologies,” El Koubi said. “Brightpoint Community College has programs in place to enable people to learn these skills. People interested in these roles, which pay significantly more than the production positions, can enroll now and get qualified while the Lego Group’s permanent facility is under construction.”
El Koubi said programs like these and Tech Talent Investment Program, which is working to increase the number of trained workers in computer science and related fields, are important in today’s competitive marketplace. Companies want trained workers, and states want to provide training and resources necessary to attract major corporations.
“Programs such as the Virginia Talent Accelerator Program and the Virginia Jobs Investment Program help ensure that companies who locate here are successful, and programs like the Tech Talent Investment Program make sure Virginians are prepared for the jobs of today and the future,” El Koubi said.
